Good morning, 

So-called "diversity, equity, and inclusion" programs are being rapidly deployed by leftists in Texas' institutions. In the One Click Survey, I ask if lawmakers should defund those programs.

Here is today's Texas Minute for Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Paxton Sues Biden Over $1.7 Trillion Spending Bill

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against President Biden over the $1.7 trillion spending bill. Emily Wilkerson has the details.
        

• The Constitution requires that a quorum of members of the U.S. House of Representatives be present for the lower chamber of Congress to conduct business. But when the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 was voted on in December, only 201 members of the House of Representatives were present in the House’s chamber.
      
• Among other things, the spending package created a pilot program that would release illegal aliens who otherwise would have been detained.
     
• “Nowhere does the U.S. Constitution authorize the House to pass trillion-dollar bills when more than half the members are in their homes, vacationing, or are anywhere physically other than the United States Capitol Building,” said Paxton. “Our Founders would be turning over in their graves if they could see how former Speaker Nancy Pelosi used proxy voting to upend our constitutional system.”

The DEM in Charge of the Juvenile Justice & Family Issues Committee

• As most people are aware, House Speaker Dade Phelan didn’t listen to conservative activists and Republican officials when he decided to again appoint Democrats to chair policy committees in the GOP-dominated Texas House. Darrell Frost profiles the Democrat tapped to oversee the House Committee on Juvenile Justice and Family Issues, State Rep. Harold Dutton (R-Houston).
   
• Just two years ago, Dutton was one of the Democrats who obstructed legislative business by breaking quorum and heading to Washington, D.C., in an effort to – unsuccessfully – block consideration of election security legislation. (He pulled the same stunt in 2003, when he and Democrats went to Oklahoma to – unsuccessfully – block legislative redistricting.)
     
• A self-employed trial lawyer and an adjunct professor at Texas Southern University Law School, Dutton is an occasional ally of conservatives on civil rights issues, but he otherwise largely toes the Democrat Party line—favoring government spending on social welfare programs, restrictions on gun rights, and leniency for criminals and illegal aliens while opposing school choice, protections for female athletes and the unborn, and election integrity.

Child Porn Investigation Nabs 59 Adults, Frees 28 Children

• A massive child porn ring has been uncovered in North Texas. Soli Rice has the details.
      

• The multi-agency investigation lasted a month, with arrests happening over the last several days. Local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies rescued 28 children.
      

• So far, more than 80 criminal charges have been filed against 59 adults. Among those arrested are paramedics, firefighters, teachers, and at least one nurse.

RUSSO: Eliminate Economic Incentives for Illegal Immigration

• In a new commentary, Chris Russo explains why Texas should mandate the use of E-verify as a tool in the war on illegal immigration.
   
• "A law like this in Texas would not only provide additional economic opportunities for Texans who are now priced out of the labor market, but it would also allow business owners who want to do the right thing feel secure in doing so." – Chris Russo, president of Texans for Strong Borders 

Impeaching A Woke Judge

• After a ruling last year paved the way for the gender mutilation of a young boy, a state district judge is now the object of an impeachment push in the Texas House. Soli Rice has the details.

     
• Last year, Dallas County's Mary Brown (D) – who presides over the 301st Judicial Distric – issued a ruling in a controversial case that has seen a woman trying to swap the gender of one of the boys in her custody. The boy's father had fought those efforts, which began after the two adults divorced. 
     
• Anne Georgulas claims the boy, James, wants to be a girl called Luna. The boy's father, Jeff Younger, says she has imposed that belief on the boy. She asked the court for permission to move to California, which recently passed laws making it easier for gender mutilation surgeries to be performed on minors. She claims that isn't her intention. Judge Brown ruled in Georgulas' favor.
      
• State Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Royse City) has brought forward articles of impeachment against Brown.
     
• “By her rulings and decision in this case, Judge Brown put radical gender ideology and its effect on children above her duty to uphold the Constitution,” explained Slaton. “She made these decisions, despite knowing full-well that a child would be subjected to further gender modification surgeries, procedures, therapies and counseling—actions that all reasonable people know to be barbaric and abusive.”

‘The Woke Mind Virus’

• The first installment of the new investigative series "Pushing Hate" was launched yesterday. The series explores the underpinnings and implications of "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" programs.
   
• Written by Robert Montoya and Kristen Stanciu, yesterday's article looks at the cultural implications of D.E.I. for Texas.
     
• “At best, diversity has come to mean an identity-based approach to society and racial quotas. At worst, it is a rigid enforcement of leftist orthodoxy,” wrote Mike Gonzalez in a paper for the Heritage Foundation.
     
• The second installment releases at noon today at the Texas Scorecard website.

ONE CLICK SURVEY

Should the Texas Legislature defund the "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" initiatives found in Texas' colleges, universities, and state agencies?
 

Once you’ve clicked an answer, reply to this email with any thoughts you’d like to share!